"My guess is that folks dissatisfied with hip expressions of Christianity also struggle with classic mainline..."

It’s been such a thrill to see my Washington Post op-ed, “Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool’” generate so much conversation over the last few days. Thanks for sharing it so widely! One common and helpful pushback to the article has been the question: “Well, if millennials in the U.S. are dissatisfied with highly-produced hip expressions of Christianity, why aren’t they flocking to the mainline?” I’m as uncomfortable as many of you with claiming to speak on behalf of an entire generation or an entire denomination. That’s never been my aim. When it comes to talking about the future of faith, there are about a million angles to take, and most of mine have admittedly focused on specific questions facing (mostly) white Protestants in the U.S. and are therefore limited in scope. So, as always, take what I offer here with a grain of salt. Still, ...